VALLEY FORGE, PA (4/23/21)—Training on “Trauma & Healing in a Wounded Community” will be held virtually 1-3 p.m. EST on May 22. It is the first of three events for 2021 coordinated by American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ (ABHMS) Intercultural Ministries. For pastors, community and lay leaders, the trainings offer tools to churches and organizations that serve in multicultural settings.
“Our country has been going through a series of traumatic events, especially for ethnic and minority groups that have been violently targeted,” says the Rev. Salvador Orellana, director of ABHMS’ Intercultural Ministries. “We want to share tools for the church that they can use to heal their communities based on God’s love and principles.”
“Trauma & Healing in a Wounded Community” aims to enhance the knowledge, skills, and resources for pastors and leaders in addressing trauma and promoting healing to wounded communities. This skill-building program seeks to help intercultural groups and individuals to master specific skills and learn new and effective healing strategies. The training will also provide information that is adaptable to any cultural group and community.
Training facilitator will be Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph.D., senior vice president and director of the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America and a commissioned minister for the Disciples of Christ.
She was a professor of religion and women’s studies for 18 years and held the Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Hamline University, 1990-1997, when she became director of the Fellowship Program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. From 2001 to 2002, she was a fellow at the Harvard Divinity School Center for Values in Public Life, and 2002-2012, she was a visiting scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., as well as serving from 2006-2008 as senior editor in religion at The New Press. In 2012, she co-founded the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School. She joined Volunteers of America in 2017 to create moral injury recovery programs.
There is no registration fee, but online registration is required.
The two other events will be held on June 19 and Oct. 16. Other events specifically coordinated for Asian, Latino, and Native American communities will also be held throughout the year.
American Baptist Home Mission Societies partners with American Baptists to promote Christian faith, cultivate Christ-centered leaders and disciples, and bring healing and transformation to communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with approximately 5,000 congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.